Question regarding GPL and membership requirements for a standards body

[Clemens Ladisch]

Akiba wrote:
> I'm running an open source project to implement the Zigbee Protocol stack.
> The code is currently protected by the GPL, however there's been a challenge
> to the validity of the license. The problem comes from the fact that the
> Zigbee Alliance requires membership in order to use its spec for commercial
> projects. Although my code is license free, it's claimed that the membership
> requirement is a licensing fee.

Only for somebody who wants to read the specification.  As far as I can
tell from the part quoted in your blog post, there is no restriction on
releasing developed code to (commercial) third parties who do not use
the specification document.

On other words, the membership requirement does not affect the _code_.


Best regards,
Clemens